The chaotic dynamics of directly modulated semiconductor lasers with delayed optoelectronic feedback is studied numerically. The effects of positive and negative delayed optoelectronic feedback in producing chaotic outputs from such lasers with nonlinear gain reduction in its optimum value range is investigated using bifurcation diagrams. The results are confirmed by calculating the Lyapunov exponents. A negative delayed optoelectronic feedback configuration is found to be more effective in inducing chaotic dynamics to such systems with nonlinear gain reduction factor in the practical value range.

We study the effect of parameter fluctuations and the resultant multiplicative noise on the synchronization of coupled chaotic systems. We introduce a new quantity, the fluctuation rate 𝜙 as the number of perturbations occurring to the parameter in unit time. It is shown that 𝜙 is the most significant quantity that determines the quality of synchronization. It is found that parameter fluctuations with high fluctuation rates do not destroy synchronization, irrespective of the statistical features of the fluctuations. We also present a quasi-analytic explanation to the relation between 𝜙 and the error in synchrony.

Chaotic synchronization of two directly modulated semiconductor lasers with negative delayed optoelectronic feedback is investigated and this scheme is found to be useful for efficient bidirectional communication between the lasers. A symmetric bidirectional coupling is identified as a suitable method for isochronal synchronization of such lasers. The optimum values of coupling and feedback strength that can provide maximum quality of synchronization are identified. This method is successfully employed for encoding/decoding both analog and digital messages. The importance of a symmetric coupling is demonstrated by studying the variation of decoding efficiency with respect to asymmetric coupling.